STEM big drone project-Help needed fast!!!

W

Wreathy Writer

New Member
Hi guys,
I am proposing to build a life saving drone for our STEM class. I have no previous experience with drones. My teacher does have but he is not agreeing to the idea particularly because of the feasibility of the project and the money. He usually does not approve of ideas which go over 1000 dollars. I have to make a very strong case. I need help in two areas:
Number one, I want to know what to buy for my copter. I want to build a copter that can lift upto 7 kegs weight and its own weight too. That can deploy falling medic kit bags from the air (I think I will have to use another very small motor to be able to make the kit fall down.) that can go fast! At least faster than an ambulance. That does not have a lot of post-flight work. I am planning to make my own frame. ( although if you have a great frame in mind that can handle such loads, please tell me) I want to know what material we should use ( we have aluminum, wood, fiber glass. We will be able to get carbon fibre if it is within budget) for the frame? What motor should I use? What propellers? Should it be quad, hex, or octa? If quad then plus or x- type? What ESCs? Should I use arduino board( we already have arduino boards in lab, I don't think they are ardupilots but I think we can buy ardupilots if it is within budget.) or should we use some other controlling board? What battery will be needed to conduct a reasonably long flight ( ideally 20-30 minutes)? What camera should I put on( I don't need very high quality, just something it can transmits? Possibly the cube camera??) what transmitter will it have? What receiver should there be? Can we make a smartphone based transmitter that can transmit data over data connection and act as an LCD for people to see how to perform procedures. It can also act as the camera maybe??

I also need some arguments to make my teacher let me do it. If you have anything in your mind that you can tell me to convince him, it would be great.

I really need your help guys. Please don't tell me it's impossible. I need to keep my spirits high!! Tell me it's possible right?

Thanks, I'm waiting for a fast response.
 
I assume your asking about 7kg of weight, for starters it is going to need to a be a octocopter (an X8 would take up less space), and still have to use pretty big motors. Use aluminium and fibre glass for the frame, but if you crash this thing even from a lower height it won't be pretty packing a load like that.

A multiWii flight controller should be great for you guys,
"What battery will be needed to conduct a reasonably long flight ( ideally 20-30 minutes)" Lifting 7kg?? Your going to go a thousand on just the quad if you NEED this function, unless you can afford 200k/v motors and some really big props.


Is there any way you can get the weight down?
 
I take it that no one else wanted to shoot down your idea :)

900 lbs would be highly difficult and it would be way over budget! It would most likely be all custom, and if you could convince your teacher of say 100k+ budget then it might be possible :)
 
ringolong said:
I take it that no one else wanted to shoot down your idea :)

900 lbs would be highly difficult and it would be way over budget! It would most likely be all custom, and if you could convince your teacher of say 100k+ budget then it might be possible :)
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, is kegs an actual measurment of weight? I assumed he meant kg xd.
 
Haha, if you try to lift this much it becomes illegal really fast, in the US the max is 50ibs I imagine the UK is not much off.
 
Oh the kegs was a typo, it's kgs. I just realized while righting this that my iPad is autocorrecting to kegs.
I have searched for some first aid kits and I have seen that my estimate of weight was wrong. I can bring it down to 4 kgs or even less since it's just a project and does not need to be carrying military grade first aid kits.
Is there any way we can do this now that the weight is less? If not than how much weight would be ideal for a copter under 1000 dollars. I can bring down the weight of the kit even more but I want it to be a practical kit too.

Don't tell me it's impossible please.
 
Wreathy Writer said:
Oh the kegs was a typo, it's kgs. I just realized while righting this that my iPad is autocorrecting to kegs.
I have searched for some first aid kits and I have seen that my estimate of weight was wrong. I can bring it down to 4 kgs or even less since it's just a project and does not need to be carrying military grade first aid kits.
Is there any way we can do this now that the weight is less? If not than how much weight would be ideal for a copter under 1000 dollars. I can bring down the weight of the kit even more but I want it to be a practical kit too.

Don't tell me it's impossible please.
Click to expand...
Well the starting price for a hobby grade is around $250, and to lift 2-4 kg you could do that for around $500 reasonably.

I'd say 800k/v motors with 14''x4.7 props would do it.
 
Is it better to use low Kv Motors? In addition, arethe specs in the eCalc are without any load? If yes, then should I use bigger motors, ESCs and batteries so it would be able to fly for 20 mins at 35kmph with the load?
 
Wreathy Writer said:
Is it better to use low Kv Motors? In addition, arethe specs in the eCalc are without any load? If yes, then should I use bigger motors, ESCs and batteries so it would be able to fly for 20 mins at 35kmph with the load?
Click to expand...
ecalc specs include load, it shows how much weight you should be able to lift near the bottom left, also the flight time is going to be pretty low, if you could use a VTOL design you could feasibly do this, other wise you just need to make it a little bigger and use more battery, though I'd suggest you just add a few good batteries and maybe look into the VTOL design.
 
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